[hider=Rapture Blackvex][center][i]“A man who casts no shadow has no soul.”[/i][/center] [color=ed1c24] [h3][b]HEART AND MIND[/b][/h3][/color] [color=7bcdc8][b]Name:[/b][/color] Rapture Blackvex [color=7bcdc8][b]Sobriquets:[/b][/color] [i]The Warhound[/i] [color=7bcdc8][b]Concept:[/b][/color] Vengeful chronicler and strategist with a penchant for fire and shadow. [center][i]"Immolate thyself in mindless abandonment. Let thy mind divorce itself from thy flesh and thy bones, and let thine eyes glare unto the infinite emptiness. Empty thyself of all save the quenchless lust for the unknown, and become one with that inexpressible void which lies just beyond the vast wasteland of the desert of the human mind."[/i][/center] [color=7bcdc8][b]Origin:[/b][/color] [center][i]“Any brutal soul may fight if he has the goal ahead of him. They fought knowing that our truest purpose lay behind them, and all that remains is faithfulness to an extinguished vision.”[/i][/center] Rapture Blackvex once served as the royal chronicler for the kingdom of Kolyria. Having access to the historical records better equipped him for analytical and tactical work, and he soon found himself serving as a martial advisor to the Kolyrian generals. Kolyria was one of the first nations to war against the Circle of Light, and Rapture was integral in devising their strategy against the armies of God. As the war raged on, Kolyrian forces lured the holy men deep into their territory, starving the lands around them. Rapture prepared to mount a ‘hammer and anvil’ maneuver with his calvary, but as they were about to make contact with the rear, an angel of God removed Rapture’s men from this world. [i]It was as if the clouds parted and a second sun shown in the sky. The being was too radiant to look at, and it descended with all the grace and splendor of a being of heaven. His men shielded their eyes. Their horses reared and balked against them. Sounds of Kolyrian victory fell silent, and the vision of every man fell upon the hand of God. The angel raised his glowing staves, face veiled in luster. Blinding white light enveloped the battlefield. The brilliance erased everything--even the shrieks of death. When his sight returned, abjection struck Blackvex like a lance to the gut. All that remained of his men were the outlines of where they fell, their steeds stinking, cooked in the heat of the light--thousands of souls extinguished with the wave of a hand.[/i] Rapture escaped and fled his fallen nation before he could be captured or executed. He sought refuge in the surrounding kingdoms, finally settling in Elatreis. He made a modest living as a scribe and historian but vengeance burned in his heart. Blackvex heard rumors of a mystic that promised power living outside the walls of Silver Spear; he took his earnings and struck out for her. In exchange for his gold and his writings, she gave him a cursed ring. Upon wearing it, barbs dug into the flesh of his finger, making it impossible to remove. The ring contained the souls of a thousand, which whisper in his ears. Their wrath burns away at the world and at his spirit, granting him sorcerery and sparking fire. [i]Pain seized along his hand and shot up his arm. Beads of blood formed along the ring, oozing from the new wound and running down his finger. Visions of a wraith-like fire overtook his mind, serpentine and undulating with heat and destruction. Hatred burned away at his being, gnawed at the edges of his psyche, and threatened to melt away his past. His vengeance became their vengeance, and their animosity became his animosity. He awoke cloaked in a dark fire--shadowy, turquoise embers that stung his flesh and immolated the ground beneath him, but he did not burn.[/i] [b][color=7bcdc8][b]Appearance:[/b][/color][/b] [hider=A Vision from the Flames][img]https://i.imgur.com/tKHkMQ2.jpg[/img][/hider] Rapture Blackvex was once an imposing figure--tall, tanned, and toned. His years of service had given him lean, wiry muscle. A slim, gaunt face gave way to a lofty, peaked hairline. His nose was long and narrow, coming to a pinched and dignified tip. Thin lips and brows remained in a perpetual grimace of contemplation. Now beneath his bone-colored mask and shadowy cloaks, however, was a patchwork of scars and heat-blistered skin. He hides himself under a veil of dark cloth, not showing a single inch of skin. [color=ed1c24][b]Skills and Flaws[/b][/color] [color=6ecff6][b]Scribe:[/b][/color] Rapture is literate, fluent in the written and verbal languages of Kolyria and the surrounding nations. He understands cartography and maps. He has extensive knowledge of history--especially military--and is key to use it to his advantage. [color=6ecff6][b]Martial Prowess:[/b][/color] His years serving in the Royal Army of Kolyria honed his skills with the longsword and dagger. He is proficient in blade, hand-to-hand, and mounted combat. Rapture’s will to win makes him particularly ruthless in these endeavors. [color=6ecff6][b]Tactician:[/b][/color] His experience as an advisor to war generals gives him insight to the battlefield, as well as military strategy and history. He is a blooded soldier and veteran, and is not one to lose his nerve in battle. [color=0072bc][b]Vexing Flames:[/b][/color] He is prone to fits of rage and destruction, each time pushing him closer and closer to madness--each time closer and closer to losing himself. [color=7bcdc8][b]Hooks:[/b][/color] [list][*] He is driven by the loss of his men, his nation, his reputation, and possibly his self. Rapture refuses to allow himself into another similar situation, and permits his paranoia to run deep. The loss of his comrades is a loss of himself; he will protect them at any cost--or at least ensure their deaths are not in vain. [*] Blackvex not only seeks retribution for his country against the God and her men, but redemption for himself. He idolizes a world where he can move beyond the failures of his past, and a world where beings can no longer threaten entire populations with a flick of their wrist. [*] Dichotomies of Light/Shadow, History/Present, and Destruction/Rebirth[/list] [color=ed1c24] [h3][b]SOUL[/b][/h3][/color] [color=7bcdc8][b]Initiation:[/b][/color] He received a ring of souls from a mystic peddler, which grant him sorcerery and cannot be removed. [i]In his sleep he sees the dark fire--the void calls out to him. The weight of a thousand souls bears upon his shoulders. Their voices gnaw at the back of his consciousness; their fingers claw into his mind--scratching. The souls trapped inside the ring whisper to him. Most of the time he cannot make out what they say, but sometimes words break through, echoing within him: “Burn it. Burn it all.”[/i] [color=ed1c24][b]Weirds[/b][/color] [color=6ecff6][b]Blackflame:[/b][/color] Rapture has the ability to conjure forth and control dark flames. His own fire cannot wound him. [i]Thick, acrid smoke blotted out the stars. Waves of heat radiated from the flames, distorting the air around them. Though the fire burned hotter than molten steel, it gave off no light. It danced from his fingertips and burned away anything it touched--the fire ate through flesh and bone, wood and metal, earth and water all alike. Its hunger knew no bounds; it could not be sated or quenched, save only from the whims of its culling master.[/i] [color=6ecff6][b]Whispers of the Dead:[/b][/color] His ring of souls can commune with him in times of quiet, of desperation, or of rage. They whisper to him their secrets and breathe in the ashes of the dead, adding to their numbers. [i]The man stared at his hand in horror as it crumbled away to soot and vapor. He tried in vain to smother the flame that raced up his body, boiling his blood and searing his nerves. Screams of pain and terror pierced the air before rasping away to wind and ashes. Rapture breathed in the smell of charred flesh and burnt fat. “I will wear your ghost, and you will serve twice: against me and for me.”[/i] [color=6ecff6][b]The Purity of Fire:[/b][/color] He can burn away nearly anything for a dark cost--the tangible, the incorporeal, the imagined--leaving only the pure. [i]Poison coursed through his veins, searing along Rapture’s nerves and sending spasms of pain along his body. From the wound oozed a thick, green serum--a toxin crafted to kill even the largest foe. It smelled of sickness and plague. The stench was synthetic and vile, like petroleum and miasma. The Warhound clutch his hand over the wound, and teal flames spurted from his palm. It wreathed him in a teal darkness. The fire grew, self-immolating his body. The toxin boiled in his veins. Impurities vaporized and seeped through his pores as steam. Beneath his mask, his smiled.[/i] [color=ed1c24] [h3][b]BLOOD AND BONE[/b][/h3][/color] [color=7bcdc8][b]Nephilim:[/b][/color] Ihægahn [color=7bcdc8][b]Sobriquets:[/b][/color] [i]Skygge[/i] [b][color=7bcdc8][b]Concept:[/b][/color][/b] Hardened abyssal shadow [b][color=7bcdc8][b]Form:[/b][/color][/b] [hider=A Vision from the Darkness][img]https://i.imgur.com/kTqPdPM.png[/img][/hider] The umbral void condensed; it grew skeletal bones as hard as stone, with ghostly penumbra churning in Ihægahn's gut. The shadows flitted wildly among themselves, swirling as ink in water into a hideous form. Fangs gnashed from the darkness. Cerulean oculi sprouted along its form, glowing with an ominous phosphorescence in the darkness. Salient spines coagulated along the spine of the Nephilim--sharp and fearful. Unnatural darkness bubbled throughout its body. Twilight grew, and with it, so did the loathsome automaton. The void shuddered and let out a chilling cry. [color=ed1c24][b]Abominations[/b][/color] [color=6ecff6][b]Umbrakinesis:[/b][/color] Skygge can coalesce shadows into a lashing or bludgeoning weapon, launch them like arrows at an offending target, or change its own form. [i]Shadows pooled from the ground, from the trees, from the sky. Abyssal darkness congealed into a weapon from Ihægahn’s black mouth: a long, serrated javelin protruded from its throat. A flash of azure magic exploded from within the Nephilim, and the harpoon launched outward. Shade writhed beneath the beastly automaton. The void grew, sprouting thrashing, barbed, and dark whips from its amorphous body. They flailed, cracking through trees and buildings as if they were brittle glass.[/i] [color=6ecff6][b]Voidal Maw:[/b][/color] The Nephilim unhinges its terrible jaw, consuming incoming projectiles or spells. [i]The sound of cracking bone and tearing flesh echoed from Skygge as its lupine jowl detached, allowing the necromantic vehicle to open its gaping orifice beyond the natural limit. It exposed rows of jagged, crushing teeth along its jaw and throat. A gruesome howl rose from within it. The flurry of arrows launched against the beastly, undead creature flew into the void--their poisoned tips disappearing harmlessly into the abject vacuum of its mouth. With a hideous laughter, the Nephilim turned its ire against the archers.[/i] [color=6ecff6][b]Shadewalker:[/b][/color] Can teleport to another shadow within visual range, or hide within them. [i]Like ink poured into water, the Nephilim melted away into the dappled shadows of the jungle. For an instant, it was incorporeal--the hardened abysm of its being dispersing and reforming on the other side of the Beast. Quickly, it launched a volley of spears before disappearing, only to coalesce on the opposite flank, repeating the umbrakinetic assault. The Beast turned and raised a clawed hand to crush Ihægahn, but it flowed safely away out of range. With the hiss of a banshee, it raised its barbed spines. Darkness rushed to the automaton, and a grotesque spike rose from its spine. It teleported beneath the soft underbelly of the Beast, ramming the shadowy lance deep into enemy.[/i] [color=6ecff6][b]Gloom Genesis:[/b][/color] Can conjure and place fields of thick, corporeal shadow, reducing enemy vision and movement. [i]Even in the pitch of night, the dark voidal fields created by the Nephilim were supernaturally lightless. The abyssal shadow was deep, opaque, and viscous. The pockets of blackness were an extension of Ihægahn's being, and the doomed soldiers that had been unfortunate enough to wander inside of them smothered in its essence. They crawled through the sludge of his umbrage like cattle through a swamp, blinded and terrified. From the murky shade came the Nephilim’s hungry mouth, devouring.[/i] [color=0072bc][b]Luminous Curse:[/b][/color] In daylight or bright light, Skygge is weakened. It suffers decreased mobility, range, and damage. Objects of pure light cannot be blocked. [i]An ear-piercing shriek escaped from the undead monstrosity, curdling the air and the blood of all those who heard it. Daylight scorched its skin and withered its body, leaving the Nephilim weak and vulnerable. Without the cover of night or of shadows, it was left dangerously open. A brilliant halberd lanced its side, wielded by a holy warrior from the Circle of Light. The dark automaton shuddered, howling out in pain. Arrows embedded into its side during its moment of weakness, and the sorceress who piloted the mighty Nephilim was struck in the throat. Unmanned, Ihægahn dissipated, fleeing to the tiny shade cast by foot soldiers, before escaping wildly.[/i] [/hider]